badlands

[ bad-landz ]

plural noun

1. a barren area in which soft rock strata are eroded into varied, fantastic forms.

badlands

/ ˈbædˌlændz /

plural noun

1. any deeply eroded barren area

Word History and Origins

Origin of badlands¹

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55; bad ¹ + land + -s ³; translation of French mauvaises terres, alluding to the difficulty in traversing such country

Example Sentences

In the summer of 2022, two boys hiking with their father and a 7-year-old cousin in the North Dakota badlands came across some large bones poking out of a rock.

From New York Times

“All the earth colors of the painter’s palette are out there in the many miles of badlands,” she wrote in an exhibition catalog in 1939.

From National Geographic

Here in Medora, a tiny town in the badlands of western North Dakota, Teddy Roosevelt is everywhere.

From New York Times

California’s state park system offers 3,000 miles of trail and terrain from beaches to badlands, Joshua trees and more.

From Los Angeles Times

However, they did say the killings were not part of ongoing federal efforts to reduce burro populations that have come to dominate the park’s badlands.

From Los Angeles Times